I'm a grandpa.....

[Rich G.]

my fifteen year old girl gave birth last Sunday,..again...LOL, not exactly sure how many yet or what sex, I took this quick pic while misting under the hidebox.

[Rich G.]

the mother take care of the babies. In the past I have learned I can accurately sex the babies by behaviour. Girls are good and stay huddled together under the hide. Boys are bad and sneak out whenever mom falls asleep. Today I walked in just in time to see mom put her head in teh box to do a head count (yes, she does this all the time, and she can tell at a glance if someone is missing). I could tell by the way she yanked her head out and looked around that she had fallen asleep and one of the boys was out. Sure enough he was coiled over by the basking rocks. It didn't take her long to find him and chase him back into the box.:)

[Cmpyrrhus]

Congrats Rich. Never seen neo molossus... 'cute' stuff. All looks good. Got a pic of the Mum?

Do you see this same kind of behaviour with other 'montane' species, say cerbs or viridis, or even something like atrox?

[Rich G.]

I know the small montanes (willardi, lepidus, pricei) have all been observed guarding the newborns, in fact the fathers have been observed to stay by the female during gestation and even use their body mass to help keep the female warmer during gestation, and also assist in guarding babies. I have seen film footage of lepidus family groups, mother, father and babies all basking in a pile. Female massasaugas also guard the young.

Back in the early 1990's I produced cerbs but I didn't know what I do now and I removed the babies from the mother right after birth. Same with nuntius. However in the wild I have made many observations of females cerbs guarding the young. Other snakes vary. With the mitchelli I have reproduced in captivity the female appears not to care about the babies, that is until you remove them from the cage. Then she will search for them nonstop till you put them back in, she is fine after that. I have never heard of atrox or scutes guarding at all. I have never bred those species as I figured it would be about impossible to get rid of the babies.

Here is a pic of the mother molossus taken while she was gestating her 2002 brrod.

[Rich G.]

of a female cerb guarding her young. There were seven or eight babies in all but I had only a couple qick seconds to get the picture as they babies were moving to the back of the crevice while mom was coming at me.

[HERPSKEEPER]

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
Cool looking snakes
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
...:bright :bright ...

[Kerwin Ross]

Cigar(s) for everyone!!

Are you going to write up an article to record your observations?

Scott and I were going to head up your way this week, but we decided to wait.

Kerby...

[rattlesnake30]

Nice looking baby blacktails! If you are finding homes for them, I might be interested in one if it's feeding.

Peter

[Rich G.]

I haven't kept any detailed noted on these observations as they really aren't anythin new. Greene and Hardy in their study on wild molossus have made amazing observations on parental care, including the young actually remaining in the general vicinity of the mother for up to a year, during this time they have intermittent contact and seem to be actually learning things from the mother.

Many rattlesnake species are proving to be far more intelligent than previously given credit for. They just don't show things like mammals, it takes a long time to come to know their body language and decipher what you are seeing. Harry Greene recently observed a molossus set up an ambush along a rodent trail. Once in position it realized that a grass stalk was directly in front of it's face and would interfere with it's strike. The snake extended it's head and neck and bent the grass stalk to the ground and then returned to its former position! Pretty amazing stuff! Over the years observing my pair I have recognized genuine affection, apologetic behaviours etc.

Peter,

sorry, they are already all spoken for.

Rich

[BillBall]

Congrats, they are really good looking snakes!

[desertpuma]

That's awesome Rich! Congrats. How many babies were there total? They're beautiful! Can you send me an e-mail? I need to get a hold of you before too long. I thought I had your e-mail but I guess not. Thanks. pH

[Rich G.]

I'm not sure how many there are yet. I only looked in on them the one time as I usually try to keep disturbances minimal. It always drives my friends totally nuts! They go crazy wanting to know how many etc. and I just figure I will see them when the time is right ;). I did count four heads the one time I looked in on them. From the pile size I guess there may be a fifth baby.

Paul, good to see ya here. Check your PM's.

Rich

[HERPSKEEPER]

If it isnt a problem, can you post a pic of their cage?


Thanks,


Steven

[Rich G.]

nothin' extravagant or beautiful, but simple and easy to keep clean, especially with my 60 hour a week work schedule.Although they tend to pick a mate for life, molossus in the wild are solitary except for breeding season which starts with the monsson in July. The male and female will travel and hunt together after breeding and then go their separate ways in Dec. and hibernate singly. Therefore I keep my pair in separate cages, the male below, the female above. The females rocks are set so that she can either bask right on top or keep the front part of her body under the shelf and let the rear hang out into the light when she is gravid. The hot spot is about 100F. The cool end 70-75 depending on time of day. If ya look closely you can see on of the babies first sheds just under the rock. The babies are all in the hooch.

[Rich G.]

The cages are four foot Neodeshas. Both snakes are just under four feet long when fully stretched.

[Gila Kid]

Five babies and no albinos, have you produced albinos before?

[HERPSKEEPER]

What kind of rattler is it?



I really like your cage setup. Did you rearrange it or something? Not seeing the catus thats in the picture up top. Anyways, dont matter, still a good setup.



:hi :D :hi :D :hi :D :hi :D :hi

[Cmpyrrhus]

The albino is the male molossus (seen pics of that guy before if I recall correctly), so therfore I would assume his new young would be simply het for that albino gene.

Very beautiful snakes Rich and again congrats.

[HERPSKEEPER]

When you do get albino molossus babie's i would be interested in having one.

[Rich G.]

a total of four babies. I did redo and simplify the cage.

Beau is correct, the albino is the male molossus and is the father of the babies. Albinism is a recessive gene, meaning that offspring of an albino/normal union produces babies that are normal looking but heterozygous for albinism. Breeding hets together would produce a mixed brood, in a brood of four the ratio would most likely be one albino, two hets, and one normal. Of course one cannot tell the hets from the normal until they reach adulthood and are bred. That is why you often see animals listed as 66% possible het.

Breeding a het to an albino would theoretically produce 50/50 hets and albinos.

Herpskeeper,

I have an unbelievably HUGE list of people that want babies. The list was started in 1993 when the male was first captured. There is no possible way that I can in my lifetime provide offspring to even the first 25% of my list. Perhaps as recipients have breeding success(and molossus are considered one of the toughest rattlesnakes to breed) more will become available in time.